President Yoon Suk-yeol answers questions from reporters after he arrives at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Yoon Suk-yeol will no longer take questions from reporters on his way to the office, ending the impromptu Q&A sessions that the president has held 61 times since his inauguration on May 10, his office said on Monday.
In a text message to reporters, the presidential office said the Q&A sessions, also referred to as "door-stepping" and initiated by Yoon to become more accessible to the public, will no longer be held starting Monday, and that they will not resume unless there are measures to prevent the recurrence of "unfortunate incidents" like what happened recently.
"Door-stepping was introduced to facilitate open communication with the public," it said. "We will consider resuming the sessions when there are measures to fulfill that cause."
The reaction came days after the presidential office was directly confronted by an MBC reporter on Friday.
When asked about the presidential office's decision to ban MBC reporters from boarding the presidential jet during Yoon's trips to Cambodia and Indonesia, Yoon made a case for the decision, suggesting that the broadcaster had harmed national interests by airing "fake news" with "malicious intent" when it reported about the president's use of profanity being caught on camera during his trip to New York in September.
As Yoon walked away from the reporters after that comment, an MBC reporter at the scene then immediately asked back, "What did MBC do maliciously? What was malicious?"
An argument then ensued as the reporter confronted the presidential secretary for public relations planning about analysis data that the presidential office had requested from a voice expert, which it has not released. The secretary told the reporter to behave.
Then-president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol announces his plan to relocate the presidential office during a press conference in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, March 20. Newsis
The door-stepping sessions have come to an end after 61 sessions since Yoon first answered reporters' questions on May 11, the day after he took office.
The sessions have been one of the Yoon administration's signature features. Depending on the day, Yoon would take one to three questions from journalists and answer them.
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